Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 11, 1993 TAG: 9301110102
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium
ROBB TO PLAY BY RULES
Sen. Charles Robb, facing possible indictment Tuesday in a case of political eavesdropping, says he won't pressure President-elect Clinton's administration into appointing a new U.S. attorney who might be more sympathetic to his position."Senator Robb doesn't want the [judicial] process stopped by outside political forces," Robb spokeswoman Peggy Wilhide said. "He is committed to playing this thing out within the system."
A federal grand jury will reconvene in Norfolk on Tuesday, in all likelihood to consider an indictment against Robb. The investigation is related to an illegal tape of a 1988 phone conversation in which then-Lt. Gov. Douglas Wilder predicted the demise of Robb's political career.
Robb has said he ordered his staff not to leak the tape to the media. But three former Robb aides have told a different story, raising the specter of a perjury charge against the senator.
With such high stakes it would be understandable - but wrong - for Robb to insist that U.S. Attorney Richard Cullen be fired, said Kenneth Geroe, 2nd District Democratic Party chairman.
Traditionally, presidents appoint U.S. attorneys based on recommendations from senators of the same political party. But Clinton has not indicated whether he will stick to the traditional patronage system.
Wilhide said Robb hasn't even thought about any appointment because "we don't know what our role will be or what the procedure will be."
Regardless, Geroe has advised Robb not to think about any political appointments until his legal problems are behind him. "Frankly, I don't think I told him something that he didn't already know," Geroe said.
Geroe, Robb and other Democrats have said the investigation is little more than a political witch hunt.
"I think this whole case is about politics," Geroe said. "If Joe Doughnut intercepted Bob Hamburger's cellular phone conversation and played it for Fred Flintstone, do you think the U.S. government would have spent this much time and money on an investigation? This whole thing has been a political vendetta since day one, but we can't stoop to that level."
Robb's friends and advisers say if there's an indictment, Robb wants to be tried by the same Republicans who investigated him.
"His attitude is, `Let them take their shot. I'm not looking for someone to come in and drop this. They've indicted me. Let them prosecute me,' " said former state If Joe Doughnut intercepted Bob Hamburger's cellular phone conversation and played it for Fred Flintstone, do you think the U.S. government would have spent this much time and money on an investigation? Kenneth Geroe 2nd District Democratic Chairman Sen. Moody Stallings of Virginia Beach. "Robb is confident that they can't convict him, and that's not any chest-beating on his part."
"I would say the new administration will leave it alone, not touch it with a 10-foot pole, not try to politicize it any more than it already is," said William Cummings, a Republican lawyer from Alexandria and U.S. attorney from 1975 to 1979.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.